Village Health Works

Village Health Works (VHW) operates a health clinic in the village of Kiguta, Burundi.  Since its opening in December of 2007, the clinic has seen over 200,000 patients.  The Nutrition and Food Security Project is a program of VHW to link the treatment of malnutrition with long-term food security.  The $30,000 in grants from the AllPeopleBeHappy foundation in 2009-2011 was used to procure supplies and to pay 14 agricultural workers to teach villagers on how to grow more nutritious food, to promote cooperative farming, and to establish and maintain 60 home gardens.  In addition, an impressive amount of infrastructure was built: a raised-bed demonstration garden, a nursery for food-bearing plants, a large agro forest, shelters for chickens, goats, and cows, and a large-scale composting system.  In 2016 and 2017, after supporting VHW’s Education Initiative for 4 years, the AllPeopleBeHappy foundation returns to supporting the Agricultural Program with two more $10,000 grants.  The program now supports 30 farming coops, 50 household gardens, demonstration and production gardens, food for patients, staff, and preschool students, livestock distribution, nutrition education, and salaries of agricultural extension agents.  (www.villagehealthworks.org)